The M14 Battle Rifle !!LINK!!
The one thing the M14 has going for it, is its method of operation. It's a long-stroke, piston-driven action that's very similar to the most prolific, assault rifle in history: the AK-47. Like the AK, the M14's action can tolerate debris and fouling better than the direct-impingement M16. While the rifle's hard-hitting 7.62x51mm NATO round is vastly superior to the M16's 5.56mm at defeating light cover and the dense foliage found in South East Asian jungles, it also makes the rifle very tough to control.
the m14 battle rifle
In all fairness, the Global War on Terror presented a combat theater the U.S. military wasn't prepared to fight in. Plus, the M14 wasn't meant to be a sniper or DMR platform when it was developed in the 1950s. Even still, Armalite had been producing civilian and military AR-10 rifles since the late 1950s, and could have just as easily been pressed into service.
The story of the M14 rifle began as early as 1944, during the height of World War 2. By that time American ordnance experts finally discovered that the standard .30 M2 rifle cartridge (also known as .30-06 or 7.62x63mm) was too long and heavy for its power level, and by using modern ball powders the cartridge dimensions and weight could be decreased without sacrificing its power and ballistic properties.
In parallel with this discovery, a lot of work was done to improve the US M1 Garand rifle, which was too heavy and bulky, and had an insufficient magazine capacity of only 8 rounds. Several experimental rifles, semi-automatic and select-fire, were developed in the USA toward the end of WW2.
Preparations for the mass production of the new rifle took almost 2 years. It was decided to place contracts with the commercial companies, and the Springfield armory role was relegated primarily to the oversight, quality control, support, and initial small-scale manufacture of the M14 rifle. The M15 automatic rifle was sacked even before the start of mass production due to the limited funding.
The contracts to produce M1 rifles were issued to three US companies, namely the Thompson-Ramo-Wooldridge (TRW Inc), the Harrington and Richardson Arms Co (H&R), and the Winchester-Western Arms Division of Olin Mathieson (Winchester). Early production runs at the H&R and Winchester were plagued by cost and time overruns and serious quality issues. TRW managed to avoid most of these issues by heavily investing in the completely new production machinery. Furthermore, production M14 rifles proved to be insufficiently accurate, and unable to replace automatic weapons, be that light submachine guns or heavier squad automatics. As a result, most of the M14 rifles were issued with the select-fire parts removed, to be used only as semi-automatic rifles.
At the same time, the war in Vietnam was gaining momentum. The M14 rifle was too heavy to be carried all day long in a hot and wet climate, and too long for the jungle environment. The 7.62mm NATO ammunition was also too heavy, limiting the amount of ammunition carried by soldiers on patrols. The selective fire capability was mostly useless since the M14 was way too light for the powerful cartridge it fired and climbed excessively when fired in bursts. In fact, most of the M14s were issued to troops with fire selectors locked to semi-automatic mode, to avoid useless waste of ammunition in automatic fire. The squad automatic version, known as M14E2, also was not too successful in its intended role. As soon as those deficiencies of the M14 became obvious for US Army Command, they started the search for a lighter rifle and finally settled on the Colt/Armalite AR-15 5.56mm assault rifle, adopting it as the M16A1 in 1967. M14 was replaced as a first-line weapon in the late 1960s but remained as a standard issue rifle for some more time with US troops stationed in Europe. It was also used by US Navy, for guard and line-throwing purposes. M14 rifle also served as a platform to build M21 Sniper rifles during the Vietnam war.
Semi-automatic only versions of the M14 rifle are commercially manufactured for civilian and police markets by the Springfield Armory Inc since 1974 under the name of M1A. It must be noted that the current Springfield Armory is a private company and has nothing in common with the state-owned arsenal of the same name, which was officially closed in 1968. Some other US companies were assembling the M14-type semi-automatic rifles using military surplus M14 parts kits or newly made parts. Beginning in the early 1970s thousands of M14 rifles were given to several nations under military aid programs. In the 1990s alone, over 100,000 of these rifles have been given away to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, and Turkey. Taiwan also manufactured a licensed version of the M14 rifle, using surplus machinery supplied by the USA.
The Chinese NORINCO corporation produced unlicensed copies of the M14 rifle during late 1970s, possibly for clandestine supply to various left-wing movements in the Asia and Africa. Later on, NORINCO also began manufacture of semi-automatic only clones of the M14, intended for civilian sales worldwide. These rifles are available in many countries including EU and Canada, but their import into the USA is banned since early 1990s.
In the USA, for some time M14 was mostly relegated to Honor Guard and similar duties, but during recent campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, many old M14 rifles were withdrawn from warehouses, dusted off, and issued to troops in the field to improve range and lethality of troops armed with 5.56mm weapons. Some M14 rifles were issued as is, some were fitted with new telescope sights to serve as para-sniper / designated marksman rifles (a concept similar to the Russian SVD rifle). US Marine Corps also re-issued M14 rifles for use in Designated Marksman role (DMR), and those rifles were fitted with newly made polymer stocks with adjustable buttstocks and pistol grips, and other accessories such as detachable bipods or sound moderators (silencers). US Special Forces, operating under the US Navy flag, stepped forward with the Mk.14 Mod.0 Enhanced Battle rifle, which is an M14 fitted with many new commercially available parts, a new stock with adjustable butt and plenty of Picatinny rails, and new accessories such as noise suppressors and optical equipment. The Mk.14 Mod.0 EBR was used for a time by US Navy SEALs and possibly some other special operation forces within US Military, until more modern rifles such as M110 or FN SCAR-H became available.
With the possible exception of the Garand, the M14 is the most American of all American battle rifles. Many consider the M14 to have been born obsolete; it was basically a big, heavy, hard-hitting, updated World War II rifle, brought into service when the world was downsizing to lighter weapons in smaller calibers for a different kind of war.
Unfortunately, the Leupold MR/T, red dot mounted above the scope, Surefire weaponlight with IR filter, PEQ-15 IR illuminator/aiming system, and CMI 25-round magazine, brought its loaded weight to 18.5 pounds. Despite the EBR being much heavier and somewhat more awkward to carry than a standard rifle, before long I felt naked without it.
In addition, the M14 was intended to be a logistical silver bullet. The Department of Defense hoped that the M14 would be able to replace the BAR rifle, the M1 Garand, and the various submachine guns in American service following World War Two. But, the M14 was far from perfect.
Though no longer standard-issue, the M14 is still used in certain niche roles where it is prized for its accuracy, range, and stopping power. The United States Marine Corps used some M14s with match-grade components and improved optics as a designated marksman rifle. A similar but improved M14 variant, the M39 Enhanced Marksman Rifle, was used in a similar role and replaced the designated marksman rifle. The Army and some Special Operations groups also use another M14 derivative, the Mk 14 Enhanced Battle Rifle in the designated marksman role.
Some 5,000 EBRs have been produced at Rock Island Arsenal, with funding for another 1,200. A further 2,000 Sage stocks have reportedly been sold directly to military units and individuals for conversion of M14s. Still more rifles issued to Marines and SEALs suggest that perhaps 10,000 of these modernized M14s are now in service.
John C. Garand's gas-operated M1 rifle changed very little from its start as the T1 in 1927 until the end of its official production run in 1957, but then something unexpected happened. As a result of the confrontational politics of the Cold War and the subsequent divisions it created, the M1 rifle continued to evolve on another continent.
The M14 Battle Rifle is a selective-fire battle rifle in Apocalypse Rising, chambered in the 7.62 x 51mm NATO bullet. It appears as a long barreled black rifle. It is top tier in the range category and can snipe at about the range of 300 studs (tested against windows) and lands a headshot at about the range of four union squares and is often compared with the Mk 17. This gun is one of the rarest in the game. When it is found, it is normally near a helicopter crash. The gun looks similar to the M1 Garand, except it is black in color. The gun's ADS accuracy is tied for first best in the game, along with the Mosin-Nagant. The M14 is the closest thing to a sniper rifle in apocalypse rising. To make it most effective as a marksman's rifle, you place an ACOG or SUSAT sight as the optic. Then you give it a foregrip to minimize recoil, and it is suggested you add an suppressor to make yourself harder to locate. It can take underbarrel attachments, the 7.62 suppressor and various weapon sights. It can take 20, 30 and 50 (drum) magazines.
This is an M14 Battle Rifle. This weapon fires a 7.62x55m cartridge in semi and full auto. A cold war weapon designed for a world coming out of the second world war. The battle rifle was not a concept that had long for this world as a standard issue infantry weapon. 041b061a72